Netsim Wrapper

ncs-netsim is a great tool, but it lack of following features which are developed as part of netsim-wrapper

• netsim-wrapper features
  • delete-devices <device-names>
  • create-network-from [ yaml | json ] <filename>
  • create-device-from [ yaml | json ] <filename>
  • create-network-template [ yaml | json ]
  • create-device-template [ yaml | json ]

netsim-wrapper is a wrapper on top of ncs-netsim with added features. It's written in python and we opened the space to add more features to it.

• Introduction
• Pre-requisites
• Installation
• Features
• Help
• FAQ
• Bug Tracking and Support
• License and Copyright
• Author and Thanks
• Contact

Introduction

ncs-netsim, It's a powerful tool to build a simulated network environment for Network Service Orchestrator (NSO) it's also called as NCS - NSO. In these network topologies we can test the network configurations based on the need as per the use case.

netsim-wrapper, An open space to automate the ncs-netsim.

Pre-requisites

• ncs-netsim command must be reconginsed by the terminal.
• netsim-wrapper supports both trains of python 2.7+ and 3.1+, the OS should not matter.

Installation and Downloads

The best way to get netsim-wrapper is with setuptools or pip. If you already have setuptools, you can install as usual:

python -m pip install netsim-wrapper
pip install netsim-wrapper

Otherwise download it from PyPi, extract it and run the setup.py script

python setup.py install

If you're Interested in the source, you can always pull from the github repo:

• From github git clone https://github.com/kirankotari/netsim-wrapper.git

Features

Delete a device(s) from topology

existing device list

⋊> ~/k/i/netsim-wrapper on master ◦ netsim-wrapper list
ncs-netsim list for  /Users/kkotari/idea/netsim-wrapper/netsim

name=xr0 netconf=12022 snmp=11022 ipc=5010 cli=10022 dir=/Users/kkotari/idea/netsim-wrapper/netsim/xr/xr0
name=xr1 netconf=12023 snmp=11023 ipc=5011 cli=10023 dir=/Users/kkotari/idea/netsim-wrapper/netsim/xr/xr1
name=xr2 netconf=12024 snmp=11024 ipc=5012 cli=10024 dir=/Users/kkotari/idea/netsim-wrapper/netsim/xr/xr2
name=xr3 netconf=12025 snmp=11025 ipc=5013 cli=10025 dir=/Users/kkotari/idea/netsim-wrapper/netsim/xr/xr3
⋊> ~/k/i/netsim-wrapper on master ◦

deleting devices

⋊> ~/k/i/netsim-wrapper on master ◦ netsim-wrapper delete-devices xr1 xr3
[ INFO ] :: [ ncs-netsim ] :: deleting device: xr1
[ INFO ] :: [ ncs-netsim ] :: deleting device: xr3
⋊> ~/k/i/netsim-wrapper on master ◦

latest device list

⋊> ~/k/i/netsim-wrapper on master ◦  netsim-wrapper list
ncs-netsim list for  /Users/kkotari/idea/netsim-wrapper/netsim

name=xr0 netconf=12022 snmp=11022 ipc=5010 cli=10022 dir=/Users/kkotari/idea/netsim-wrapper/netsim/xr/xr0
name=xr2 netconf=12024 snmp=11024 ipc=5012 cli=10024 dir=/Users/kkotari/idea/netsim-wrapper/netsim/xr/xr2
⋊> ~/k/i/netsim-wrapper on master ◦

Create Network/Device Template

Template to automate the Network/Device creation process.

⋊> ~/k/i/netsim-wrapper on master ◦ netsim-wrapper create-network-template [yaml | json]
⋊> ~/k/i/netsim-wrapper on master ◦ netsim-wrapper create-device-template [yaml | json]

which gives template.json/yaml file where you can update the files based on your need/requirement.

Create Network/Device From Template

We are using the templates which are updated based on your requirement

⋊> ~/k/i/netsim-wrapper on master ◦ netsim-wrapper create-network-from [yaml | json] <filename>
⋊> ~/k/i/netsim-wrapper on master ◦ netsim-wrapper create-device-from [yaml | json] <filename>

How to choose the Templates and How they look (Template options)

These templates follows the same process of ncs-netsim, format is your choice

1. prefix based creation - netsim-wrapper create-network-template yaml or json <file>
2. name based creation - netsim-wrapper create-device-template yaml or json <file>

Note:- If you need combinations of network/device template, we suggest to create 2 template files and run the command for each type.

You can find the example all supported templates under it's folder.

prefix-based template example

nso-packages-path: <path-to>/nso-local-lab/nso-run-5.2.1.2/packages
compile-neds: true
start-devices: true
add-to-nso: true
add-authgroup-to-nso: true
authgroup:
  type: system
device-mode:
  prefix-based:
    cisco-ios-cli-6.56:
      count: 2
      prefix: ios-56-
    cisco-ios-cli-6.55:
      count: 2
      prefix: ios-55-
load-day0-config: true
config-path: <path-to>/nso-local-lab/nso-run-5.2.1.2/preconfig
config-files:
- devices_ios_56.xml
- devices_ios_55.xml

name-based template example

nso-packages-path: <path-to>/nso-local-lab/nso-run-5.2.1.2/packages
compile-neds: true
start-devices: true
add-to-nso: true
add-authgroup-to-nso: true
authgroup:
  type: system
device-mode:
  name-based:
    cisco-ios-cli-6.56:
    - ios-56-name-100
    - ios-56-name-150
    cisco-ios-cli-6.55:
    - ios-55-name-200
    - ios-55-name-250
load-day0-config: true
config-path: <path-to>/nso-local-lab/nso-run-5.2.1.2/preconfig
config-files:
- devices_ios_56.xml
- devices_ios_55.xml

Template options in detail

nso-packages-path:
  info: nso package path

compile-neds:
  options: true or false
  info: which run _make clean all_ for each ned

start-devices:
  options: true or false
  info: starts devices using _ncs-netsim start_, it's intellegent enought to start only stopped devices

add-to-nso:
  options: true or false
  info: adds day0 devices config to nso

add-authgroup-to-nso:
  options:
    type: local or system or custom
    path: authgroup config file path this option is only for custom
  info: configuring authgroup

device-mode:
  - prefix-based: ncs-netsim create-network/add-to-network
    ned-name: ned name
      options:
        count: number of devices
        prefix: prefix text for device names

  - name-based: ncs-netsim create-device/add-device
    ned-name: ned name
      options: device names

load-day0-config:
  options: true or false
  info: to add day0 config if the value is true

config-path:
  info: configuratin folder path  

config-files:
  info: loads each configuration file from given config-path

Help

⋊> ~/k/i/netsim-wrapper on master ◦ netsim-wrapper --help
Usage netsim-wrapper  [--dir <NetsimDir>]
                  create-network-template [yaml | json]             |
                  create-network-from [yaml | json] <fileName>      |
                  create-network <NcsPackage> <NumDevices> <Prefix> |
                  create-device-template  [yaml | json]             |
                  create-device-from [yaml | json] <fileName>       |
                  create-device <NcsPackage> <DeviceName>           |
                  add-to-network <NcsPackage> <NumDevices> <Prefix> |
                  add-device <NcsPackage> <DeviceName>  |
                  delete-devices <DeviceNames>           |
                  delete-network                     |
                  [-a | --async]  start [devname]    |
                  [-a | --async ] stop [devname]     |
                  [-a | --async ] reset [devname]    |
                  [-a | --async ] restart [devname]  |
                  list                      |
                  is-alive [devname]        |
                  status [devname]          |
                  whichdir                  |
                  ncs-xml-init [devname]    |
                  ncs-xml-init-remote <RemoteNodeName> [devname] |
                  [--force-generic]                  |
                  packages                  |
                  netconf-console devname [XpathFilter] |
                  [-w | --window] [cli | cli-c | cli-i] devname |
                  get-port devname [ipc | netconf | cli | snmp] |
                  -v | --version            |
                  -h | --help

See manpage for ncs-netsim for more info. NetsimDir is optional
and defaults to ./netsim, any netsim directory above in the path,
or $NETSIM_DIR if set.

FAQ

• Question: Do I need to install ncs-netsim too?
  Answer: Not really, ncs-netsim tool comes along with NSO. If you are working with NSO it's won't be a problem.

• Question: Is python mandatory for netsim-wrapper?
  Answer: Yes, the library is written in python and we wanted not to be dependend on NSO versions.

• Question: Is netsim-wrapper backword compatable?
  Answer: We recommend to use netsim-wrapper commands instead of ncs-netsim. However couple of commands are still backward compatable ie. ncs-netsim list, etc.

• Question: I am seeing following error ./env.sh: line 12: export: `Fusion.app/Contents/Public:/Applications/Wireshark.app/Contents/MacOS': not a valid identifier
  Answer: We recommend to check your env path as recommended in following link

Bug Tracker and Support

• Please report any suggestions, bug reports, or annoyances with netsim-wrapper through the Github bug tracker.

License and Copyright

• netsim-wrapper is licensed Apache 2.0 2019-2020

  

Authors and Thanks

netsim-wrapper was developed by Kiran Kumar Kotari, For any suggestions or comments contact kkotari@cisco.com or kirankotari@live.com. If you find any bugs please fix them and send me a pull request.